Process of treating natural gas



UNITED STATES ATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN MCKAY, OF TITUSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF TREATING NATURAL GAS.

FEPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,232, dated April 20,1886.

Application filed February 15. 1886. Serial No. 191.987. No specimens.)

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN MOKAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Titusville, in the county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Process of Treating Natural Gas and Converting it into a Fixed Gas Suitable for Illuminating Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The essential requisites of a good illuminating-gas are that it contain hydrocarbon gases sufficiently rich in carbon and combined therewith a suffieient percentage of the non-illuminant but heat-producing gasessuch as hydrogen, carbon-monoxide, and marsh-gas-to insure the incandescence" and combustion of the carbon contained in the illuminant, and, in addition to this, the specific gravity of the gas should be such that the gas can be burned through the ordinary burners and under the ordinary pressures used at gas-works.

Natural gas as it comes from the earth is found generally deficient in illuminating properties, because the proper proportion between the illuminants and the heating-gases is not preserved, and sometimes the specific gravity is an undesirable one.

To so decompose and recombine natural gas and to add to it the necessary elements to convert it into a fixed gas suitable for illuminating purposes is the object of my invention.

This I accomplish in the following way: I introduce into the base of any water-gas apparatus or generator and at the bottom of the bed of fire a stream of natural gas in combination with a jet of steam, and pass this jet .of steam and natural gas up and through the incandescent coke, anthracite coal, or similar substance which forms the bed of fuel, and in direct contact with said fuel. On the top of the incandescent fire I inject a jet of some suitable hydrocarbon, as petroleum or any of its products, turpentine-oil, or similar substances. This hydrocarbon is sprayed upon the top of the fire by .means of a stream of natural gas or its equivalent under pressure. The hydrocarbon thus sprayed in and finely divided and subjected to the heat from the glowing coke or anthracite is instantly converted into a gas, which mixes with the gases arising from the decomposition of the steam and natural gas which have passed through the bed of fire,'and the entire mixture of gases passes into the superheater, when they are converted into a fixed gas of proper specific gravity and illuminating quality.

In places where natural gas is supplied for commercial purposes, sufficient pressure to introduce the natural gas into the base of the water-gas apparatus or generator can be obtained by making direct connection with the high-pressure line. The same pressure will also serve to spray in the hydrocarbon above the fire.

The entrance of the natural gas and steam are controlled separately by Valves,so that the natural gas can be introduced commingled with the steam in any proportion. In this way any natural gas can be converted into a good illuminating gas by a proper regulation of the heat and the steam and the oil.

In this application I do not claim the process of treating naturalgas for converting it into illuminating-gas by passing it through a body of heated fuel, or by passing it through the heated fuel and then carbureting it, or by passing it through the heated fuel, then carbureting it, and finally passing it through a heated fixing chamber, as such methods of operating are made the subject of a separate application.

I claim as my invention 1. The process above described of treating natural gas of varying quality and converting it into an illuminating-gas of the desired candle-power by passing the natural gas, in connection with a jet of steam, up through and in direct contact with an incandescent bed of coke, anthracite coal, or similar substance, which forms the. bed of fuel in any water-gas apparatus or generator, and simultaneously spraying on top of the bed of fire any suita ble hydrocarbon by means of a stream of natural gas, or its equivalent, under pressure, and then passing the combined gases thus formed through a superheater, substantially as described, and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The process above described of manufacturing gas, which consists of converting natural gas of varying quality into illuminatinggas of the desired candle-power by passing the natural gas, together with steam, through a body of incandescent or highly-heated fuel, whereby decompositions and recompositions are effected and the natural gas is converted into a fixed illuminating-gas.

3. The process above described of manufacturing gas, which consists in converting nat-- ural gas of varying quality into illuminatinggas of the desired candle-power by passing the natural gas, together with steam, through a body of incandescent or highly-heated fuel, whereby decompositions and recompositions are effected and the natural gas is converted into a fixed gas, and mixing with such gas hydrocarbon vapor for forming an illuminating-gas.

JOHN MCKAY.

Witnesses:

A. B. HOWLAND, H. L. BALDWIN. 

